"Supreme art is a traditional statement of certain heroic and religious truth, passed on from age to age, modified by individual genius, but never abandoned." William Butler Yeats

Monday, August 8, 2016

Harley Quinn/Harlequin: Suicide Squad & Anti-Feminism

Why make a "super hero" film where the villains are the good guys? What has happened in our culture that the bad guys can be even be considered for one moment to possibly be the good guys? In American culture today, the people who were once considered good have become the bad guys, and those who were bad, are now the good ones. So it's easy to identify with a film of anti-heroes when you yourself have become one culturally. I read a review that suggested the "villains" who turn good guy aren't actually bad enough to be considered villains, and he was upset that they are even being called "bad guys." Why? He's one of those who have helped turn our culture upside-down, like Harley Quinn hanging upside-down in her cell when we first see her. Liberals believe people do not have free will and are bad to the core, with no redeeming qualities to them. Suicide Squad wants us to consider others as we would want ourselves to be considered: maybe I have screwed up, but that doesn't mean I am a screw up. Socialists believe human lives are cheap, and it's best to send off difficult ones to the work camps and find mindless, obedient humans to do the job the government wants, but that's not what Amanda Waller argues for in the film. But Suicide Squad assembles more than just the outlaws in the film: Suicide Squad, with countless references to other films, comments that all the anti-socialist films of recent years have been their own "suicide squad" for challenging the liberals and risk all the backlash and negative reviews (and financial ruin) as a result, and this is almost exactly what has happened the opening weekend with negative reviews; unlike with Batman vs Superman, however, audiences were not kept away from Suicide Squad, making for a record release at the box office. What is the difference? Conservatives had long been planning on boycotting BvsS when Ben Affleck was announced as Batman (because he has been so vocal about his hatred of conservatives and his own liberal policies), so that explains the under-performance in terms of finances. Liberal reviewers, however, also tried to keep audiences away from the very pro-capitalist film with an onslaught of bad reviews so conservative audiences wouldn't have their morals validated and their values celebrated; this has been a powerful strategy in undermining American culture and making the "good guys" out to now be the "bad guys." Since BvsS has come out on video, and plenty of have gone ahead and watched it, realizing it's a good film and one they like, audiences are now less likely to believe liberal critics trashing a film conservative audiences might like, which is what I think happened with Suicide Squad: viewers think, well, they didn't like BvsS either, but I liked it, so maybe I will like Suicide Squad, too.
One of the themes in Suicide Squad is how these individual squad members come together to become a "family," a group of friends for whom they would sacrifice themselves: other films such as Penguins of Madagascar, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, The Minions, X-Men Apocalypse (You have more family than you know), The Hobbit trilogy, Ghostbusters (remake), Warcraft, The Secret Life Of Pets, etc., all deal with someone finding family or finding a "new family," and this is certainly true of Suicide Squad; why? So people know they are not alone; we have each other upon whom we can depend, we don't need a massive, centralized government doing everything for us because we have each other, even when it doesn't seem like we do. Another important theme of the film is getting a "second chance," which we see in the Fast and Furious films, Cat Woman in The Dark Knight Rises and, Napoleon Solo The Man From UNCLE, to name a few. Suicide Squad is anti-feminist, which haven't happened with many other films, but we can highlight both X-Men: Apocalypse (since it's the feminist CIA detective Moira MacTaggert who unleashes Apocalypse) and even Zootopia with the female sheep Bellweather who sets animals up to turn society against the predators. These films are not anti-woman, they are anti-the-group-of-thugs-calling-themselves-"feminists"-because-women-of-the-past-were-"oppressed"-feminists. Why? Because like "Brother" in the film, individuals have accused society of false crimes, making good people out to be bad people, and those false accusations that keep building up, have turned society upside-down.

When I say "anti-feminism," being a woman myself, I mean "anti-feminist" in a good way (and by "good way," I mean Suicide Squad rips feminism apart the way it should be ripped apart): there are four powerful women in this film, and it's their decisions which propel all the events of the narrative (which is why it's getting bad reviews). Between Amanda Waller (Viola Davis), Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie), Dr. June Moone/The Enchantress (Cara Delvigne) and Zoe, Deadshot's daughter (yes, she's imperative), women rule this DC corner of the universe and it all comes down to what is in the heart of each woman which is the exact opposite of modern feminist ideology. This post is full of spoilers; if you haven't seen the film and don't want it ruined, as usual, please stop reading and come back later; if you don't care, but you haven't seen the film, there is a good synopsis (with spoilers) at this link; you need to read this before you read the rest of the post; thank you.
So, "girl power,"...

Will Smith portrays Deadshot, lethal at 4,000 feet. There are three intriguing things about his "uniform" (pictured above) that he wears. First, he tells Harley Quinn after he puts it on that, when he wears it, someone usually dies (which might be a reference to James Bond and Skyfall when Bond tells Severine that someone usually dies when Bond sets out to kill someone; likewise, it might also be a reference to The Kingsman Secret Service when Valentine tells Gazelle his plans and Gazelle responds, "Sounds like a lot of people are going to die"; why reference these two films? Skyfall and The Kingsman were both very anti-socialist films, so Suicide Squad is telling us that ALL these anti-socialist films are going to be a "suicide squad" because of the liberal film critics and media who will try and keep people from seeing films like this). Secondly, his collar says, "I am the Light, the Way," which is a reference to Jesus Christ in the Book of John 8:12. Jesus has been asked about the woman caught in adultery, and no one has not sinned and so cannot throw a stone at her, and Jesus tells her, "Go, and sin no more," then he tells the crowd, "I am the Light" and the only way to the Father is through Him. So, you want a second chance like the criminals in Suicide Squad? God to Jesus. HE is the ultimate second chance. That Deadshot wears this quote around his neck symbolizes--not that Deadshot thinks of himself as being Jesus Christ--but that Jesus Christ is what leads and guides Deadshot, in spite of how confused Deadshot has been about how to use the gift God gave him (we see this same "confusiong" with El Diablo, who thinks his gift came from the devil, but more on that below). This might also be a reference to Pulp Fiction, and Samuel L Jackson's character who recited some bibilical verses before killing someone; Deadshot might want them to think of Jesus so they have a chance to get to heaven in their last seconds of life. You might think this is a long shot, but remember, when Deadshot is with Zoe, and talking about getting full custody of her, Deadshot wears a cross around his neck, and it's gold, because gold doesn't tarnish. Yes, absolutely, it's a very gangster thing to see people wearing crosses who are as far from God as they can be, but the neck symbolizes what leads and guides us in life, and Deadshot wearing the cross and the quote from Christ around his necks is meant for us to understand that we should be doing the same as he. The third interesting thing about his uniform is the mask he wears. The mask is like the identity-less monster army Enchantress creates for herself, as well as the identity-less motorcyclists in Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation, and the storm troopers in Star Wars: evil erodes our identity, and when we commit acts of evil, it destroys our identity because we receive our identity from God. Deadshot realizes that when he starts shooting people, they lose their humanity to him and all he sees are "rats" he's meant to exterminate (how he addresses himself to his patron when we get his back-story). Taking away the identities of others means Deadshot loses his identity as well. Last but not least, when Deadshot and the squad finally get up to the building to free "the mark," and before Deadshot finds out it's Waller, he says, "He better have cured cancer or something." When was the last time Will Smith was in a film about curing cancer?I Am Legend and the infected beings in that film are basically what Deadshot and all the other members would become if Waller hadn't brought them together into the squad and provided them with a meaningful mission to exercise their gifts. So, just as Harley Quinn is also The Harlequin, so Deadshot is also a violent zombie on his dark side. When Enchantress shows him what he really desires, in hopes he will join her side, it's of Deadshot killing Batman; I don't think Deadshot wants Batman's head hanging up on his wall, rather, Deadshot wishes Zoe, his daughter, hadn't interfered and Deadshot went to prison; he wants to be free, but until Deadshot finds suitable employment, he's not going to be free and he can't follow the Light.When Amanda Waller and Rick Flag go to see "what Deadshot can do," and they give him an arsenal to prove his skill, Deadshot shoots each of the targets in between the eyes; why? Because Amanda Waller mentions that meta-humans have always existed, like the Philistine giant Goliath, and how did Goliath die? David used the slingshot to hit Goliath right between the eyes, just as Deadshot does in his "target practice," demonstrating that a sharpshooter like Deadshot qualifies as a meta-human.

When we first see Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie), she's hanging upside-down in her cell and her cell is a cell within a cell, so it's a double. When the squad first gets their gear for the upcoming mission, Harley's make-up is perfect; as events progress, her make-up runs and smears; when we see the back-story for Harley and Joker, we see her giving into everything he wants, even to the point of it almost killing her. When everything else has failed, in the end, to kill Enchantress and save the world, it's Harley who takes the risk upon herself to finish the deed, even though the world hasn't done anything for them. This is the rough outline for a powerful anti-feminist statement; let's examine the details.

If you will notice the two images at the very bottom of this collage, the far left and center left, we have the origin of Harley Quinn, from the Harlequin; as the Joker comes from a deck of cards, so Harlequin comes from the theater, which explains why Harley Quinn is so theatrical, but also her physical feats we see her perform, like hanging up in her prison cell when we first see her, climbing onto the rope Joker throws out to her and hanging on it while Deadshot aimed at her, and then her tumbling routine when she fell out of the helicopter to safety; these are all traits of Harlequin. Why does Harley Quinn use a baseball bat? She likes games, whether they are play games--like racing against the Batman on the streets of Gotham--or mind games because she was a psychiatrist, she loves games. Note also the harlequin designs she wears on her black and gold checked gown (and the red and black checked tattoo on her right arm) as well as the pattern showing up on her ball bat and sledge hammer she carries. We discuss how the psychiatrist's doctor's coat might have been like a straight jacket to Harley; throughout the film we see her wearing different things around her arms, sometimes bracelets, some times a bunch of watches; why? It's difficult to tell. Arms symbolize our strength, so either Harley feels she is still being in a "straight jacket" even being with the Joker and his crazy influence, or she's intentionally holding herself back because she's even crazier than he is and she doesn't want to scare him off. Now, Harley has perhaps the biggest conversion in the film, and it's because she has the most important and vulnerable line: "He marries me?" Harley asks in disbelief when Enchantress shows Harley what Harley truly desires and how Enchantress wants Harley to believe Enchantress can give it to her (Harley, the manipulative player of .mind games has had a mind game played on her). Unbeknownst to Enchantress, Harley Quinn is something of a succubus herself, tempting all the men who see her to desire her; when the possibility of Joker marrying her is opened up to Harley, she realizes that IS what she wanted more than anything, for herself and him. Remember, when they are both in the vat of chemicals, their make-up comes off, and neither of them wears their make-up in the "domestic bliss" scene Enchantress shows her (again, this is very much like the offer the devil makes Vanessa Ives in Season 2 of Penny Dreadful, a life of domestic bliss with Ethan). It's with Harley, we can say, that Enchantress "deconstructs herself," because Enchantress is a succubus, a demon who arouses men's sexual appetites, just as Harley does; by Harley "getting married," it shows Harley and all women that, ultimately, there is nothing that can still beat marriage: it's dignity, it's respect, it's self-respect, it's security and the chance to love and nurture children. These are all the exact opposite qualities a succubus--and liberals and Democrats--want women to embrace, but Harley does. In the last scene we see of her, Harley has her hair in rollers, as she did in the image Enchantress showed her, and Harley is fully clothed, even her feet, so Harley has suddenly embraced modesty. Note the pink slippers on her feet: feet symbolize our will and for Harley to have pink slippers on suggests she wants to be more feminine (instead of whorish and unpredictable) and "softer" because of the fuzzy quality of the slippers. Now, why did she call Joker "Puddin'?" Because pudding is a sweet food, it's also easy to eat, it doesn't require any chewing (going over it and understanding it); Joker was like her "honey," the way money is Deadshot's "honey," that which makes life sweet for us." Now, Harley has an important moment with Joker: when he goes over the side of the road and crashes the car into the water; what happens? Harley goes through the windshield; why? She's not going to be upset that Joker didn't save her from drowning (remember, when she wakes up, she isn't surprised to not see Joker with her, she acts like she was expecting Batman to be there instead) but she does realize that her relationship with Joker could be the "vehicle" that kills her (the windshield symbolizes "reflection" as glass or mirrors always do, so she has reflected that even though she would die for him, he could also get her killed and for no good reason).

Harley being upside-down means she's perverse, she has turned her world upside-down (this isn't revelatory), BUT, by the end of the film, she's right-side up in one of the last shots we see of her. So, what happens to turn Harley upside-down? She's unbalanced, but--unlike what everyone claims is the problem with Harley Quinn, that she is in a dysfunctional relationship with Joker--she's unbalanced because she's NOT with him at the start of the film.
Oh, it gets better,...

Harley was a psychiatrist at Arkham where Joker was kept and she was his therapist before falling in love with him. When this scene is being introduced, what we first see of Dr. Quinzel is how high her high heels are; why? We know feet symbolize the will because feet take us where we want to go the way our will directs what we want to do with our lives. What is Dr. Harleen Quinzel's will? To be feminine. To be a woman. This isn't only revealed in her high heels, but when Enchantress tempts Harley, how does she do it? With a picture of "domestic bliss" with Joker, so Enchantress also knows (not to mention what June Moone wants) and even Amanda Waller (as we will discuss below) and Zoe, Deadshot's daughter.

Please note the incredible balance in this image (above): light pours in through those windows which are evenly positioned on Harley's side and Joker's side; it looks though that Joker has more of the share of the windows on his side; why? Note that both of them wear white jackets: Joker wears the straight jacket to keep him from causing harm, and because of the mirroring quality of this scene, and because of the choices Harley makes, we can say that Harley also wears a straight jacket, that of the doctor: she probably choose psychiatry because she had a psychosis brewing inside her and she was looking to escape through knowledge, but when she met Joker, he gave her the ability to escape through love. These issues lead us to Harley's encounter with Enchantress.

Harley can't swim, and this comes up in two important scenes. First, the scene where Joker wants Harley to prove her love for him, so he has her jump into the vat of chemicals and, of course, she can't swim to save herself. Joker turns away to leave her to her fate, but then he stops (bottom image) and he turns around, takes his jacket off and then falls into the vat after her, saving her. What happens? Harley had the white straight jacket in the top image removed so he would be free (getting him the machine gun so he could escape the asylum) and now, her devotion to him has genuinely touched him and he needs her, so when Joker makes that dramatic move of removing his jacket himself (the leather one) he's being helped by Harley to escape another straitjacket: the jacket was leather, meaning his animal instincts have been removed, and his shirt, which is purple, is open at his chest; why? It's exposing his heart, meaning, Joker is exposing his vulnerable heart to Harley and she is going to become his very heart. The purple shirt he wears is a sign of his suffering, that is, he is willing to suffer for Harley, and that suffering he endures on her behave will make him a better man. When Joker pulls Harley out, it's like an immersion Baptism, she emerges as a new woman: a woman who faced her fear of giving everything to a man and him not returning it, and Harley won. This is the bond that unites the two of them, and we can be confident of that because when Joker and Harley are in the vat, swirls of color surround them, the color from the persona make-up Joker wears, meaning, just as Harley gave her stripped emotions to Joker, Joker is giving his stripped self to her (free of the make-up he wears for the public; that doesn't mean they aren't going to put on an act for the rest of the world, but for each other, they know what they other needs and wants to give the other). That is the first scene where Harley not being able to swim is important; the second scene is the third image on the left when Joker and Harley are in the purple Lamborghini, racing Batman and Joker takes the car over the cliff; as Harley screams she can't swim. When Batman jumps into the water, Joker has all ready gotten himself to safety, but left Harley to die,... or did he pull a "Teddy Kennedy" like at Chappaquiddick Island? Actually, no. Joker knew Batman would save Harley and send Joker to death row, so by saving himself, Joker was also saving Harley, because we saw how distraught she was after he supposedly died in the helicopter crash and Joker would have the resources to free Harley, but if both of them were in prison/the asylum, they couldn't count on anyone freeing them.

Enchantress promises to give the squad members whatever they want if they will join her; we have seen this before as a means of socialism to ensnare followers, from X-Men: Apocalypse, to Constantine in Muppets Most Wanted not to mention the season two finale for Penny Dreadful and the showdown with the devil Vanessa Ives has. Enchantress offers Harley a "normal life," and we know that, deep down inside, that's what Harley really wants: just as neither Harley nor Joker wear their make-up in Harley's livid day-dream of bliss, so, after Harley threw herself into the vat of chemicals and Joker went after her, the make-up came off and swirled around them, so the important element in Harley's hope is that they always have that connection of the deep, emotional (not skin-deep) bond they share.

Katana has more in common with Enchantress than any other character; how? At the end, when Rick Flag has crushed the heart of Enchantress, June breaks out of the "mask" Enchantress had become for June and is saved; Katana also wears a mask. Enchantress wants to be rejoined with a spirit (her brother Incubus) just as Katana wants to be rejoined with a spirit (her dead husband). Both Enchantress and Katana let hair hang down in their face; both women also wear symbols on their heads, Enchantress wears a moon and Katana wears the flag of Japan, which demonstrates via word play the relationship to Rick Flag both women have: Katana is meant to protect Flag, Enchantress wants to kill Flag. Enchantress took the body of June, but Katana takes the soul of anyone she kills. Katana, however, was actually married to her husband, but June/Encahntress was not married to Rick even though he was playing the husband. What about June? Please note this important scene (the right photo of her in water): this is the first time Rick Flag sees the woman he's going to start sleeping with, and it's important that June's reflection is so dominant in this image because June can see Enchantress in herself, in other words, June doesn't have to become possessed by Enchantress to actually be a succubus, or at least, do the work of the succubus, because it's easy enough to get Flag to start sleeping with her.

Again, at the start of the film, she's upside-down because she's away from Joker who "sets her right," but at the end, even though she thinks he's dead, she looks normal: her hair is in rollers, as in the vision Enchantress showed her, and she's reading a romance novel because she knows what she wants now; the stand-alone film for Harley coming up will reveal what happens next, but, just as Mr. J's alter ego is The Joker, so Harley Quinn's alter ego is the Harlequin of the commedia dell'arte, showing they make the perfect couple, which leads us to the other couple in the film, Dr. June Moone and Rick Flag.

Slipknot doesn't get much time, however, he does something important which comes up later: when we first see him, he gets out of the SUV and a female guard says something to him so he hits her hard, then says, "She had a mouth on her." Later in the film, when Rick tells Deadshot about his relationship with June/Enchantress, Deadshot tells Rick that Rick needs to go slap her around and get her to start behaving. These are important situations, even though they end up slipping into marginalia, because there is a DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ANTI-FEMINIST AND ANTI-WOMAN. Slipknot exhibits anti-woman behavior, and we can even say that Diablo, in not respecting his wife (he loved her but didn't respect her) killer her because he was, at that time, anti-woman, thinking he was better; when Rick tells June she has to turn into Enchantress to get the bomb close to Incubus, June doesn't want to do it because she knows Encahntress plans something, but Rick basically forces her to do it, thereby disrespecting June instead of finding another way to take out Incubus. The film argues, with the characters of Enchantress as a succubus, that mainstream feminism is bad for women and men because it keeps women from being who they really are (Harley, Waller and June Moone) and tries to shape them into an army for socialism rather than as individuals who love and know who they really are (like little Zoe).

Dr. June Moone is an archaeologist, which is imperative for the events of the film; why? That big hole she drops down, where she finds the skeletons and the idol of The Succubus, aka, Enchantress is also where the heart of the Enchantress is buried.
What does this hole symbolize?The vagina.
How can I say that? Later in the film, after Enchantress has kidnapped Waller, Flag asks Deadshot, "Did you get far enough in the report to see that I'm sleeping with her?" That is exactly what a demon known as a succubus does, it lures men into having sex with them, and where does the sexual act take place? The vagina. Why am I making a big deal about this? Because the film does: why are there skeletons in this hole that is an alter to the succubus Enchantress?
Because those are aborted babies.

El Diablo is my favorite character in the film. He has the heaviest burden, and the greatest victory. Now, we know that a character doesn't die unless they are all ready dead; so, when Slipknot dies trying to escape, it's because he's all ready dead (being a woman-hitter as we discussed in the caption above). El Diablo, on the other hand, has been through confession, penance and enlightenment (he's the one who recognizes the "mind games" Enchantress plays with them in her offers to them each and saves the others from giving into them). When he sacrifices himself so Incubus can be blown up, El Diablo makes the greatest sacrifice there is: to lay down one's life for their friends. As he said, "I've lost one family, I'm not going to lose another." In the poster at the top of the page, I noted how, with all the different films quoted in Suicide Squad, the anti-socialist films are themselves a type of suicide squad because of the likelihood of them getting rejected; 47 Ronin is likely another film to add to this club. There is no real reason for El Diablo to have his facial tattoos, but they are most likely a visual quotation from 47 Ronin which had a similar character and was also anti-socialist. Earlier in the film, Amanda Waller tells directors she wants to "fight fire with fire," and that is an often mis-understood phrase: we fight the "fires of damnation" with the "fires of purgation," so that, instead of being damned, we find the Light (Deadshot's collar) and salvation, for ourselves and hopefully others. El Diablo, when he tells Deadshot that his powers didn't come from God, was mistaken: they did come from God, even though El Diablo let the devil use him for so many years; once El Diablo saw what he was allowing to happen (the consequences of his family) he stopped and began his time of penance and meditation. This is where the strength to defeat Incubus, Brother, came from. Now, on a very different note, I don't think we can overlook the political metaphor occurring as well. Being Mexican, with wife and children who are also Hispanic, El Diablo has a big responsibility: him burning down his house, killing his wife and children is what many criminals in Mexico have done: the wife, because she is of child-bearing age, symbolizes "the motherland," Mexico, and the children symbolize the future. Men of child-bearing age symbolize the economy and driving forces of production in a country, so the criminal activities El Diablo is involved in, reflects what criminals have done to Mexico: burned it with lawlessness (the box of money and drugs his wife shows him and he tells her to put it back and she tells him she's leaving, so that's when he starts the fire) and ruined it for future generations (the kids). El Diablo's death will be discussed in the next caption for Incubus.

June Moone is not only split into two personalities once Enchantress possesses her, but June Moone herself provides us with two different personalities. "June" probably invokes "June Cleaver," the all-American mom of the TV show Leave It To Beaver (if you saw The Bourne Legacy with Jeremy Renner, you might recall he gave Rachel Weisz's character the name "June Monroe," because it was a mix of June Cleaver and Marilyn Monroe). So, part of Dr. June Moone is to be like June Cleaver; and "Moone?" If you have seen the mockumentary No Men Beyond This Point, you know the importance of the moon on women and the moon tends to symbolize the "lesser sex" with the sun being the alpha man, and the moon merely reflecting light from the sun. The moon stands in direct contrast to our spiritual life, because we are supposed to live in the Grace of God (remember the woman who makes the sign of the Cross over herself when June Moone turns into Enchantress? We should be doing the same) but the moon symbolizes how nature controls us, we don't control nature, (nature and the world of the flesh vs God's Grace and the enlightened life of the spirit) and we never have the sense that June can control Enchantress, Enchantress controls June. So we all ready have a complicated character, and then you put her in the situation of being possessed and you really increase the layers of interpretation. You cannot have a woman who is sexually promiscuous (Enchantress/June Moone) that is not in need of birth control unless she is in menopause or wanting to get pregnant. Those skeletons in the alter area are the remains of babies aborted to "worship" both the Enchantress succubus and her "Brother," who is the demon incubus. What else is buried down there with the alter and skeletons? The heart of Enchantress; why?

Unfortunately, this is the best image I can find of "Brother," Incubus. An Incubus is a demon who has sex with women; you're right, this doesn't come up in the film, and it's not important for "Brother," at least not at this point. What is imperative, however, is who Enchantress chooses for her brother's spirit to inhabit. Enchantress takes a black male, gives him as a host to her brother's spirit, then takes her brother to the subway, and tells him to feed and make himself strong; he feigns illness; a white male security guard approaches him and calls for help; a white male physician volunteers to help the man and starts chest compressions. This is probably THE MOST IMPORTANT SCENE IN THE ENTIRE FILM, especially since we just saw a similar scene in Ghostbusters which invoked the Underground Railroad and Harriet Tubman (please see The 4th Apocalypse: Ghostbusters for more). In Suicide Squad, we see Enchantress has taken this successful business man (who is in the act of washing his hands, suggesting his hands are "clean" of any dirty business, or of the past even) who is then "feeding" on white men in an underground railroad; he transforms from a black man into a demon, rather like Patti's character in Ghostbusters claiming that the audience at the rock concert are sexist, racist or both, and then a demon sits on her shoulders; the demon form "Brother" takes on is exactly like the demon of socialism in Warcraft (please see To Kill a Demon: Warcraft & Fel Magic for more). Why does Enchantress choose a black man to embody her "Brother?" Because liberals and feminists see themselves as minorities, and by banding together against a common enemy--especially white males who are the power-holders in American society--the minorities feel they can overwhelm and overcome their enemy. The reason this is the most important scene is because it definitely establishes the morality of the film: if we had any doubts about the morality of Enchantress and how she utilizes June Moone to entrance Rick Flag, we can't doubt what happens with "Brother" and the white men he feeds upon. This sets the stage for understanding why El Diablo fights him, and how that fight happens. As a Mexican, El Diablo would be one of the demographic liberals preach would benefit from socialism (Enchantress offering the Squad members anything they want (especially since each Squad member is considered a political and economic minority), is a promise of socialism, like all those people who thought Obama was going to pay their bills for them). El Diablo realizing that these promises are just mind games, strengthens himself to fight against them. He realizes that his friends and new family are worth more than any power or enticement Enchantress might offer, and so, like a real man, El Diablo lays down his life for those he loves. How? He summons all his strength and talent, everything unique and singular to him, his individuality. and he uses that to get "Brother" into a corner,... why a corner? Because socialism can't defend itself when it's backed up and there is no where to run; socialism is good at destroying things--like the massive ring of trash in the sky Enchantress creates for her weapon--and through self-sacrifice (not buying into that others "owe you" or you can't take care of yourself) El Diablo finds his true being and makes the ultimate act of heroism.

Enchantress very much embodies Rowan North of Ghostbusters (especially starting out in not-so-good bodies, and getting "upgrades" to better bodies) and the Queen we are likely to see in The Mummy with Tom Cruise.

Harley, who has just lost her "Puddin'," knows that a woman's heart is what controls her, so Harley--as a woman herself--is the fire who will fight the fire and Harley is the one who has to cut out Enchantress' heart. Because Flag had treated her like a soldier and used her as a "weapon" against Brother in the subway station, he has to be the one to destroy the heart and risk losing June; the reason Enchantress tells Flag he "doesn't have the balls to do it" is because he is a soldier who puts his country and duty first; he would see the benefit of keeping Enchantress alive to be used by the government (we saw a similar situation in The Man From UNCLE when Uncle Rudi, the Nazi, offered to tell the US government everything he knew in exchange for clemency and Solo and Kuryakin had to think about it before Rudi went up in flames). Destroying Enchantress was the cleansing Flag needed so he could truly love June and not be bound to her through the succubus. This leads us to the woman "without a heart," Amanda Waller.

In this dinner meeting, note how happy Amanda is to dig into her meal; when we see characters eating, or not eating, drinking or not drinking, it symbolizes that they are "taking it in," whatever "it" is that is at hand, and they are digesting it and the consequences (of course, when they don't eat/drink, that means they aren't taking it in or refuse to be "fed" the line of reasoning someone else is trying to feed them).Is Waller a villain? She might have a difficult moral code, but no, she's not a villain. She has a heart, and she has given her heart to the Squad and she protects them with her "tough love" because they are so dysfunctional, that is the only language they understand. True, she might be able to get their sentences reduced even more than just the ten years, but then, if they just walked free, what would happen? They would go on being the same bad guys they were before, because they haven't had a chance to break their bad habits and traits. By giving them a reduced sentence, and privileges (again, we saw this with Napoleon Solo in The Man From UNCLE) she's earning their trust and she will know exactly where they are the next time they are needed; she also has the benefit of the bond they have built between themselves. Was Waller right to order Deadshot to shoot Harley as she escaped with Joker? Yes, actually, Waller was right, because there was an agreement in place and Joker circumvented that agreement which Harley took advantage of and caused a riff in the Squad when she returned. Was Deadshot right to "miss?" Yes, he was. Just as in The Man From UNCLE, Solo didn't shoot Illya when he had the chance(s), because Solo knew Illya was too good an agent to die easy (and Solo was rewarded because Illya saved Solo later in the film) so Deadshot knows Harley is too valuable to die so easily and the Squad was rewarded (and Deadshot vindicated for missing) when Harley was the only one who could cut out the heart of Enchantress.

When Waller meets with other members of the CIA and military about her pet project, she tells them, "The problems with meta-humans is the human part," and she's right about that, but it's also the human part that makes them so much more powerful than just a superhero: having an inherent weakness to overcome, the "human part" gets better at adapting to weakness and challenge rather than a super hero who has no weakness, and Waller herself is an example of what happens when we don't heed our hearts.

Amanda Waller. It's strange but, if you look at her wearing pink in the top and middle images, she has something in common with Captain Boomerang (and his pink stuffed unicorn) and Harley (her pink fuzzy slippers). Why? Amanda may not seem like it on the outside, but she has a soft, feminine side and it's her wearing those pink shirts that tell us so (as well as the hot pink scarf when she goes to meet Deadshot at the shooting range), so in spite of her having such a tough, "mean lady" exterior, she's quite feminine, and that femininity is about love and nurturing. She has nurtured the Suicide Squad, even though none of them would probably admit that: again, Waller is about "tough love," and it's because that is what each of them needs, but also understands; her softer side is shown when giving Croc the TV, Deadshot time with Zoe and the espresso machine for Harley. The most controversial thing Waller does is shoot the women who were working intelligence while the Squad was on their way to save Waller; why did Waller kill them? Unfortunately, even that was an act of tough love: they were NOT cleared for the confidential role they played, putting themselves and the Squad members in jeopardy, but also because the women were likely to be captured by Enchantress and her minions (like how the minions are turned purple and crazy in The Minions movie) and the women would have suffered a similar fate. In the bottom image, when she's pitching the idea, we easily see her pearl necklace; why? We know that whatever is around our necks lead us, like a leash; pearls are always the jewelry of wisdom because pearls take s long to form, and her peal necklace tells us that Amanda is guided by wisdom, NOT POWER or prestige (even if we are tempted to think that) but the wisdom of having a team of the "worst of the worst" who can do what no one else can. That is wisdom for the country as well as wisdom for the Squad members because this is the path to their redemption. Remember, they save Amanda, twice, and from incredible odds, so she is the first to benefit from her own wisdom. She's not wearing pink in the bottom image, but blue; why? Blue, we know, is both the color of wisdom and depression, because the price of wisdom is sadness and sorrow; having worked on this project for so many years, Amanda has learned about meta-humans and she knows why they are needed and how difficult it is for them to function normally. Again, this is Amanda being guided by wisdom, not power plays, and because wisdom is the greatest of all virtues, that is why we don't have to see Amanda Waller as a villain.

When Enchantress goes to Waller's home and finds Waller in her bedroom, Waller wears a leopard print shirt as she sleeps on the bed; why? It reveals that Waller, too, has "animal appetites" like the Joker (who took off his leather jacket before saving Harley) and even Killer Croc who put on a leather jacket after he licked it. Waller doesn't have anyone to love, she's lonely, and that's the sacrifice she has made, but that doesn't mean she hasn't given her heart to someone, because she has: the Suicide Squad. The Suicide Squad is her baby, she had worked on the project for years, and even after it had been rejected, she kept working on it; to prove that the Squad could work, she even put her own life in jeopardy to where they were the only ones who could save her, and they did. Deadshot said, before he realized they were saving Waller, "He better have cured cancer or something," so finding Waller was actually better than curing cancer: "He" would not have been a minority like Waller, and Waller took others at the bottom of society--the "worst of the worst"--and brought them together in a working unit that saved the world,... that IS a cure for the cancer in the human spirit. To prove that Waller has given her heart to the Suicide Squad, she makes the ultimate sacrifice for her child: she gives it up, which leads us to the mid-credits scene.

Why does Captain Boomerang have that pink unicorn, Pinky? Because a unicorn usually symbolizes some kind of utopia, and pink--like Harley's pink fuzzy slippers--generally symbolizes femininity, so Boomerang has a hope, that he keeps to himself (him putting Pinky inside his jacket) that he can still find the "perfect woman," which he sees in Katana, not Harley. When they are at the bar, Boomerang tells Harley, you are amazing on the outside, but you are ugly on the inside, and he means it. He asks Katana if she has a boyfriend because he recognizes a kind of perfection about her that draws him to her; so, is Katana drawn to Boomerang? At the bar, when Deadshot gives his "Honor among thieves" speech, Katana reminds him, "I'm not a thief," but that isn't true: through her sword, Soulkeeper, she steals the souls of people. Those souls don't belong to her, but she keeps them in her sword anyway. So Boomerang being an obvious their, and Katana also being a thief of the not-too-obvious-proportions, are drawn to each other. Boomerang is still alive at the end of the film, but we kind of don't know why: he wasn't heroic at any point, and--as he himself points out to Waller--only getting 10 years taken off his three consecutive life sentences doesn't do him much good, so we can look forward to either his conversion the future, or his death if he refuses to convert.

Waller meets with Bruce Wayne to get his protection. Waller giving the file of meta-humans to Wayne is like Jochebed putting Moses in the reed basket and sending him down the Nile so he might still find a chance at life in spite of the odds (we also saw Drakka do this with her son in Warcraft). In this very creative and protective act, Waller and Wayne are becoming the parents of these groups, Suicide Squad (which Wayne has threatened he will shut down) and Justice League (which wouldn't exist without Waller giving Wayne the necessary information he couldn't get on his own). This is like a scene out of Zootopia, with the fox--billionaire Bruce Wayne--and the police officer bunny Judy Hopps--Amanda Waller, CIA director--working to make the world a better place. So, even though it doesn't seem that way, this is actually an incredibly happy ending and the promise of a beautiful (if sometimes difficult) friendship, just like at the end of Casablanca.

Killer Croc is definitely a miniority. What can we say about him? He has the ultimate "animal appetites," but even those are more refined than what liberals want humans to adopt in the real world. Note how Croc all ready looks like the "hostiles" of Enchantress's army she creates by taking people and deforming them; now, does Croc look like them, or do they look like Croc? I would say they look like Croc, and that's because socialists have to have people believing they are animals rather than human because animals are easier to control; please note, however, that Croc wears a leather black leather jacket, with a brown hoodie underneath. Why? The leather of the jacket suggests the "animal appetites" and the black color is that Croc is either dead to the world or dead to the things of the next world; unless we look at the brown hoodie, we can't interpret the blackness of the jacket. So, what does brown symbolize? Dirt. Either a person is as humble as the dirt ("From dust we came, to dust we return,") or a person is dirty, filthy with sin. Given that Croc is known as "King of the Sewers," we could easily interpret him as "dirty," but there are three problems with this: first, he's still alive at the end of the film (we can argue that Joker is still alive, too, but Joker is going to be the kind of "eternal evil" that sticks around because his purpose is to make good people like Batman even stronger than they would become without him). That Croc is still alive means he has redeeming qualities, at least more redeeming qualities than vices. Second, he offers to sacrifice himself: it's possible he could die getting the bomb in the submerged subway, but he offers to do it in place of the SEALS, and that's a heroic act. Third, when Harley mentions that Croc is ugly on the outside, he responds with, "I'm beautiful," and that is a genuinely humble response, because he realizes he is a creation of God, and that makes him beautiful (like Diablo realizing he's a human and not a weapon). Because of these issues, we can interpret the brown hoodie to be a sign of Croc's humility (the hood symbolizes that he keeps his thoughts to himself, but also that he thinks a lot). The black of the leather jacket, then, suggests he is dead to things of this world; why does he want a TV then? That, too, is a sign of humility, because he has no companionship; regardless of what Croc watches on the TV, he realizes he needs some kind of human interaction and companionship, and that's him honoring his humanity.

This leads us to our last female: Zoe Lawton, Deadshot's daughter. Harley asks Deadshot at one point if he has ever been in love, and he says no, that he couldn't do what he does and still look himself in the mirror. The truth is, he is in love, with his daughter, and the highest form of love: self-sacrifice, because he learned that from Zoe, who takes care of her mother instead of her mother taking care of her. Harley Quinn looks like a little girl ("Doll face"), but the little girl in the film (Zoe) acts like a grown woman: all we see of her is that she wears a white coat, because she is wrapped "in faith" for her dad (white is the color of faith and purity): she knows he does bad things, but loves him anyway and, loves him so much, she knows it's better for him to be in prison than on the street killing others. That's maturity. That's love. That's what it takes to be a woman. It's tough love: no one wants to go to prison, and no one wants their loved ones to go to prison, but if that is what it will take for them to go straight, that is what it takes.
And that's how simple it is to be a hero.
Love.

Just the fact that Suicide Squad is about meta-humans tells us it's not going to be a pro-socialist film; how? Socialist ideology is intent on everyone being equal, no one any better than anyone else, and if someone is the best at whatever it is they do, they have to be handicapped or killed off. So the exceptionalism of each of these individuals is meant to encourage the exceptionalism in each of us: whatever it is that you do, do it the best you can; be exceptional, be great. Not only will you benefit from it, the whole world will as well.

In conclusion, Suicide Squad thanks all the anti-socialist films which have come before it, preparing the way for this film; by laying out a clear, anti-feminist agenda, the film makers communicate to women what women really need to hear: stop abusing yourself. The film is clearly not anti-woman, nor does it encourage any abusive behavior towards women, rather, it tries to make women see who they really are and the heroic task ahead of them, for themselves, those they love and the world. Each woman needs to ask herself, which of the women in the film am I? In spite of the film being about the world's worst heroes, it tries to help us be the best of heroes.
Eat Your Art Out,
The Fine Art Diner

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Please note: there is never just one correct interpretation, and I know that, I just rarely mention it nowadays; please do not think that, just because I have chosen to post one interpretation over another, doesn't mean that I think my interpretation is exclusively correct or other positions not possible. I would also like to point out that, we are living in a very defined, volatile culture with dynamic politics at play on the international stage and, whether you like to admit it or not, those elements go into the creation of art, which is why I include the political elements in my interpretations.
Thank you, have a nice day.